Daniel Aegan

OK, so it’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these. A VERY long time. I’ve meant to do more updates, really, but I had sort of blogger’s block. It hasn’t stopped me from working on my stories and other nonsense, but I couldn’t seem to get myself in the mood to sit down and write a blog post–not even on the toilet at work if you could believe that! Most recently–and by that I mean around a month or so ago–I wanted to do an “end of the year” post that led into what’s coming in 2024. Since I missed that date and it’s been a new year for three whole days, allow me to regale you with an update in the life of Daniel Aegan.

As some of you no doubt know, I’ve been sick with Covid since Christmas. Yes, it’s still out there, and this is my third time dealing with it. It’s not as bad this time around since I got the most recent vax in September. It’s felt like a nasty head cold, but I’ve still had to quarantine during the second half of my year-end vacation, and I wound up using two sick days to start off the new year. This is a big deal since my company only gives me four of them before I have to start dipping into my vacation bank. But it’s OK since we’re no long allowed to work from home or have any support when we do get Covid or any other illness, not since we decided as a country that it’s not a big deal any more. That was sarcasm, by the way…

But I’m not here to start a rant about that bullshit. I’ll save it for another day.

2023 was a good year for me writing-wise. Sure, some other good stuff happened, but let’s not focus on any of that. For all of you who were with my during my Twitter days, you no doubt know I left that platform the moment the child porn started popping up due to the new owner’s lack of regulations. There were a lot of reasons to leave Twitter–now known to me as the Dead Bird App–but that was the straw. Did it hurt to leave the platform where I made a lot of writer friends and cultivated my brand to move onto a relatively unknown, invite-only social site called BlueSky? Oh yeah, but things die. It’s what they do. Thanks, God! Still, losing my following and people who went to different apps was a blow I still haven’t fully grasped. Then again, I should’ve blogged about this months ago when it was more relevant, and I’m supposed to be updating you on my writing stuff.

Getting back to it, my first book drop of the year was a villainpunk book called Bad News. This was an idea that came from watching certain news and media personalities go whole hog into presenting terrible people as demigods here from Mount Olympus to save us from the evils of the opposite side of the political spectrum. I thought about what that would look like in a world of superheroes if a media outlet decided that it would be more profitable to present the villains of their world as the saviors and do what it can to turn the people against the superhero community. This being my second villainpunk book following Reign of the Unfortunate from the year before, I decided to look at worlds like this from a whole new perspective. This isn’t about the superheroes or supervillains–not exactly. This is more about the regular-ass people who have to live in a world full of extraordinary individuals treated like gods. This story followed a young man by the name of Randy “Figs” Figueroa who was given the reins to a failing media empire in a city full of superpowered people and how he viewed the blurry lines between what society tells us are heroes and villains. It’s a gritty and unapologetic story with enough twists to keep you wondering what the hell is going to happen next. This should go without saying for an Aegan Multiverse book, but there’s a heavy dose of queerness in it as well.

I followed Bad News later that year with a collection of new and old short stories called Infinite Zero, a follow-up to the Double Zero that came out in 2020. This had nine stories in the realm of sci-fi, fantasy, villainpunk, horror, and more in the same style you’ve come to know and love–assuming you know and love my work. It was a fun book to put together with a wide diversity of stories. I’ve got stories in here about eighties’ video game tournaments gone awry, superhero sidekicks out for revenge, roller derby champions fighting deranged wildlife, retail multiverse shenanigans, devour or worlds falling in love, and a ton more. I could sit here all day describing the many stories of this collection, but I’ll spare you a blow-by-blow rundown and just tell you it’s a book full of stories that are shorter than average but make up for it in spunkiness.

Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, I started making my book ads weirder. I’m really enjoying that cringy aesthetic. You can thank my fellow indie writer PK Reeves for that.

There’s on more book I dropped in 2023 I want to talk about before moving onto what’s coming in 2024, but I want to address the “three books a year” thing since so many people ask me about how i get so much accomplished. I’ve said this before, but I’m an engineer by trade, so my mind works on that level as well as a creative one. When I started writing ten years ago–yes, it’s also the ten-year anniversary of when I started writing all this nonsense–I did it all in a haphazard fashion and posted stories on blog sites and e-mags that are now dead and gone. After that, I began attempting to query my work to no avail, being told there’s no market for the type of genres and style, even though these same people were also telling me not to quit because my stuff was worth writing and publishing. My sad and dehumanizing querying adventures is another blog post I should write at some point, but I’ve digressed once again. I started a three-year process per book, meaning from start to finish, it takes three years for me to get a book out. I also started cycling through stories, so every year I have a first, second, and third drafts of different books that I go through. In between these drafts there are alpha and beta readers helping me out, and I do take time to return the favor. This type of creative work load doesn’t seem to work for many, but it’s worked for me. At this moment in time I’m working on the first draft of a book called Freek Squad that should see it’s release in 2026. This whole system keeps me busy during all my breaks and lunches at work as well as my down time at home, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor. I’m actually ahead of the game this year since I was able to get the second draft of Safe Haven done and off to a beta reader during my December vacation thanks to my quarantine. It’s also helped me get the first three chapters of the aforementioned Freek Squad written.

Getting back to 2023’s book list brings us to In Search of Channel Void, my third and final release of the year. This book is among my favorite, and was inspired by a stoned watching of the Twilight Zone New Years Eve marathon. Channel Void pays homage to Rod Serling and his creation, bringing the reader into a world where the episodes of an odd TV show from the sixties may be real. When Paul, our main character, heads to the southwest to find the clues on whether or not his favorite show actually happened, he finds a lot more than he bargained for. New friends and weird clues point him in the direction of a multiverse-bending energy storm that the now deceased creator of the Channel Void show was rumored to follow to get inspiration for the episodes of his show. It turns out everything may be realer than he could ever imagine, and chasing down the energy storm might cost him more than he’d calculated. This is a sci-fi romp with lots of heart, a dash of pothead humor, and lots of queer vibes. I’m so very proud of this one and how it encapsulates what I wanted to put out while stoned and watching Twilight Zone. I know I’ll never know for sure, but I bet Mr. Serling would approve.

As a side note here, I added Amazon links to images for the books above, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention I’ve expanded to a wider realm. Earlier this year I began selling on other sites such as Barnes & Nobel, Kobo Plus, Smashwords, and more. Not all my titles are available as of now, but these last three books and a few others have been added already. So, if you want to read my junk and not a fan of the ‘zon, you’ve got your choices.

Now on to 2024!

This year I plan on dropping another three books. The first is called Humans Are Trash, and it follows a group of wealthy American elitists on a space flight that gets lost in the universe. With a tagline like “The worst people of Earth are humanity’s only hope” you know it’s going to be a lot of fun. This was inspired, of course, by the billionaire space race where Earth’s richest douchebags fired themselves into space in giant dildos. I wish this book was out when that stupid submarine imploded since that event mirrors the theme of this book’s inciting incident. I plan on dropping this one around March(ish), so look for me to be building it up more at some point. For now I’ll say this book was a lot of fun to write and goes harder into sci-fi than I have before aside from I’m in Sci-Fi Hell from 2021. If you want to know what me doing a hard sci-fi book is like, check that beast out.

My mid-year summer blockbuster will be my third villainpunk book titled My Good Friend Dr. Debaucherous. As a note, I did plan to blog about villainpunk, and I still might do it in the near future. Someone remind me if you don’t see it. Dr. Debaucherous follows in the footsteps of Bad News and Reign of the Unfortunate, following a twenty-something man looking for the mentorship of a supervillain. He finds it in a bad guy long thought dead named Dr. Debaucherous if you couldn’t figure that out from the title. This one is a non-linear tale that starts from the bottom of the bottom to the top of high society and back again. It revels in the themes started in Bad News and how a society views its heroes and villains, this time from those deep in the shit. Look for this one around July or so.

Finally, I’m going to finish the year with my long-awaited return to horror-comedy with Who the Fuck is Rocky Phantasmic?! I don’t remember what exactly inspired me to write this one, but it turned out to be a menagerie of cosmic horror, comedy, superhero action, and lots of other bullshit that shouldn’t be mashed with the rest of it. The story works, though! I can’t wait for this clusterfuck of a story to drop. There’s a little something for everyone in this book as long as that something is sex, demons, outspoken comedians who deserve their comeuppance, satire, and lots more. And this will be the first cover featuring my sexy friend Heather, so check it out for her if nothing else!

Well, that concludes this blog piece. I hope you stuck with it through to the end. If you have, congratulations. I hope you had fun reading about what I’ve been doing and what’s coming next from the Aegan Multiverse. Also, I’ve written so many books I started encompassing them in what I’m calling the “Aegan Multiverse” if you hadn’t noticed. If you get me going about it, I’ll tell you how it all works. Aside from publishing these three books and working on what’s coming in the future, I’ll be attempting to reboot my Stone Tarot services at some point since Twitter’s demise really fucked up that side hustle of mind. So if you’re a fan of weed and tarot or want an in-depth no-nonsense reading, hit me up through my Stoned Tarot page. I won’t be reading this week while I get over Covid, but I do plan on somehow boosting this once more. 

I hope to be seeing you all around the cyber watercooler. As always, you can find my on BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/danielaegan.bsky.social if you’re on that app. I do plan on utilizing it more.

Later!